Pretty Purple Vases: A Solution for Using Short Tulips

Exceptionally hot weather this spring has taken its toll on the spring bloomers. The ranunculus burst open while they’re still small. Some of the tulips are exceptionally short and small. More days than not, I feel like I find myself looking for something to do with stems that are shorter than average. The solution obviously, is to make more flower arrangements!

I bought these ranunculus corms from Longfield Gardens last year. SImply, they were labeled as ‘Purple’. Anytime I see the word ‘purple’ in the flower world, I automatically assume that there’s a very good chance that they really mean “really dark, almost black”. Though these darks colors aren’t usually my favorites, I definitely believe that they deserve a place in the garden.

Here’s a handful of blooms from one of my more “fancy” anemone varieties. This one is called ‘Azzuro’. The flowers are a really pretty almost smokey lavender color. I also really love the dark centers.

I’m still at that weird point in the season when there isn’t much foliage available. Either way, I really think that this one came out very nicely. The pink, white, and lavender tulips that I used were part of a bag marked ‘Pastel Mix’. I’m not sure why, but the stems of these particular colors were very short. Beyond removing the flower bulb at picking time, I didn’t even need to cut them.

That’s all for this post. In the end, I really like the color combination of these flowers. I think it’s the perfect balance between soft colors and more dramatic dark tulips and ranunculus. What do you think? I’d love to hear all about it in the comments below!